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Feeling the Burn, Slowly…
By John Langone; New York Times, May 13, 2003
Exercise regimens that promise to get the out of shape into better shape than an athlete and in
shorter time continue to find their way into books, rivaling in repetitions, imaginative spin and new
packaging only those on diets, natural medicines and meditation techniques. Perhaps these books exist
because millions of Americans are obese, or at least less fit than they should be. Or maybe it is because
of the proliferation of personal trainers, gyms and fitness center, where once there was but the local
YMCA, and specialists capable of discussing in lay terms arcana like metabolic enzymes, hip adduction
and glyemic indexes. These two books aim to help people lose weight, build muscle mass, strengthen
bones and improve flexibility – all on schedules that are less labor intensive and time consuming. The
“Power of 10” program takes 20 minutes once or twice a week, and the “Slow Burn” 30 minutes a week.
One writer, Adam Zickerman, owns fitness centers in the New York metropolitan region. Another writer,
Fredrick Hahn, runs one in Manhattan. Each has also chosen the same buzzwords for his program: “slow,
“fitness” and “revolution.”
The two books stress safety with exercise that lower the risk of injury and exhaustion. Mr.
Zickerman’s program is essentially training with weights, “the way to go for young and old alike.” What
may differentiate it from some other similar regimens is the slowness of the movement of the weight.
Most lifters, Mr. Zickerman points out, “throw their weights up and down with a jerking high-force
motion.” His method slows movement to a 10-second cadence, 10 up, 10 down. “We do not stop at the
top or bottom, so your muscle sustain a constant steady load for about five to eight repetitions,” he writes,
adding that such an exercise “fires the muscle fibers” deeply and builds lean muscle mass. By
comparison, he adds, aerobics “builds virtually none.” He makes a convincing case. Lean muscle mass,
he says, requires the burning of energy. It has to burn calories to sustain itself. The more of it verses fat,
the more calories one burns, even while sitting, relaxing and sleeping. “Three extra pounds of lean muscle
burns about 10,000 calories extra a month, just sitting around,” he adds. Moreover, since jogging, say,
burns 100 calories a mile and a typical aerobic workout 100 calories every 15 minutes, “having three
extra pounds of muscle burns as many calories as running 25 miles a week, or doing 25 aerobic workouts
a month without ever leaving your couch.”
Mr. Hahn’s program, which combines exercise science, medicine and weight training, is a
collaborative effort with two “metabolic medicine” physicians who wrote a best seller, “Protein Power”
(1996). Power is again applied in the final chapter, “The Slow Burn Power Eating Plan,” a regimen that
offers little more than a mantra-diet rich in protein, adequate in “good quality fats and oils,” “fresh fruits
and colorful vegetables and restricted sugars and starches. The “secret to building strength quickly” is
exercising slowly “and minimizing the effects of momentum and gravity.” Moving slow the authors point
out, may sound easy but, the focused slowness that eliminates momentum actually forces your muscles to
work much harder.” As in Mr. Zickermans’ program, the crucial element “is that each exercise must be
performed with a slow, precise repetitions, in perfect form, with a weight heavy enough to take the
muscles being worked to total fatigue in just a few repetitions."
“Power of 10: The Once-a-Week Slow Motion Fitness Revolution,” by Adam Zickerman and Bill Schley. HarperCollins, $24.95.
“The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution,” by Fredrick Hahn, Dr. Michael R. Eades and Dr. Mary Dan Eades. Broadway Books, $25.